Sharon

Sharon and those closest to him have often expressed their surprise over how easy it has been, in the name of fighting terrorism, to“push the envelope” of what the international community finds acceptable Israeli behavior. During Israel’s last presidential election, Sharon’s son Omri explained to a group of Likud faithful how cleverly his father has handled the US and other nations:

<i>Today&#8230;we are located in the Palestinian areas, we are violating international agreements, and no one is saying anything. So we talk Palestinian state, Palestinian state, but in the meantime not even Area A exists any longer. And there is no Orient House, no Palestinian representation in Jerusalem, and Palestinians are afraid to walk around with weapons in their own cities. Obviously we all want peace, who doesn&#8217;t want peace. But [my father&#8217;s] statement about a Palestinian state is a very remote statement.</i> [Ha&#8217;aretz, December 13, 2002]
What Omri Sharon was describing is an incremental approach by which his father has managed to obtain US acquiescence in Israel&#8217;s gradual obliteration of Palestinian self-government in the Occupied Territories, and even in targeted assassinations. At first these assassinations were supposedly limited to &#8220;ticking bombs,&#8221; but they were gradually extended to political leaders of Hamas and Jihad as well. They inevitably and consistently kill large numbers of Palestinian civilians.
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